High-rate biogas production from waste textiles using a two-stage process

The efficacy of a two-stage Continuously Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR), modified as Stirred Batch Reactor (SBR), and Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bed (UASB) process in producing biogas from waste textiles was investigated under batch and semi-continuous conditions. Single-stage and two-stage digestions were compared in batch reactors, where 20 g/L cellulose loading, as either viscose/polyester or cotton/polyester textiles, was used. The results disclosed that the total gas production from viscose/polyester in a two-stage process was comparable to the production in a single-stage SBR, and in less than two weeks, more than 80% of the theoretical yield of methane was acquired. However, for cotton/polyester, the two-stage batch process was significantly superior to the single-stage; the maximum rate of methane production was increased to 80%, and the lag phase decreased from 15 days to 4 days. In the two-stage semi-continuous process, where the substrate consisted of jeans textiles, the effect of N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) pretreatment was studied. In this experiment, digestion of untreated and NMMO-treated jeans textiles resulted in 200 and 400 ml (respectively) methane/g volatile solids/day (ml/g VS/day), with an organic loading rate (OLR) of 2 g VS/L reactor volume/day (g VS/L/day); under these conditions, the NMMO pretreatment doubled the biogas yield, a significant improvement. The OLR could successfully be increased to 2.7 g VS/L/day, but at a loading rate of 4 g VS/L/day, the rate of methane production declined. By arranging a serial interconnection of the two reactors and their liquids in the two-stage process, a closed system was obtained that converted waste textiles into biogas.